China's Export Engine Looks Set to Cool

choi

Chao Deng, China's Export Engine Looks Set to Cool; Driver of growth and font of trade tensions shows sign of strain, slowing pace further. Wall Street Journal, Oct 20, 2018.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/exp ... s-coming-1539951553

Quote:

"GUANGZHOU, China—As China’s economic growth weakens faster than expected and uncertainty from the trade fight with the US casts a shadow over business, a surprising driver has been exports. But that may soon peter out.  American clients of Ningbo Frank Electric Co 宁波弗兰克电器有限公司, a Chinese manufacturer of kettles and other household appliances, have been placing orders several months in advance, salesman John Zheng said. 'It all looks so good at the moment,' he said. 'But it won't continue.'

"US firms have piled up purchases ahead of the tariffs. The usual burst in orders ahead of the American holiday season has also helped.  Chinese exports grew at an average monthly pace of 11.7% during the third quarter, buoying the economy's weak performance. 'Thanks to frontloading, negative impact from the trade conflict with the US is limited so far,' said Grace Ng, an economist with JP Morgan.

My comment:
(a) This report is available to the public for free, but there is no need to read the rest. Mainly it explains why Chinese exports to US has increased l compared with a year before, despite tariff imposed by Trump on Chinese goods.
(b) frontload (vt): "to assign costs or benefits to the early stages of (such as a contract, project, or time period)"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/front-load